‘Hate from the Altar,’ an inspirational film by award-winning Nigerian-American filmmaker Temitope Adebiyi, will premiere at the Dome of Faith in MarylandUnited States, March 24.
Filmed in November and December 2022 in Maryland, USA, the film tells the story of a girl whose emergence as a new church choir leader sparks controversy among choir members and within the pastorate as It is rumored that she is having an affair with her boss at work.
Efforts to get her out revealed a deeper secret in the church.
Stills from ‘HATE FROM THE ALTER’.
The film stars Kike Ayodeji, Ayodeji Adekoya, Paul Tolbert, Lekan Adeiga, Kazeem Omotolani, and Simeon Dan and features Olalani Akinyode.
unusual plot
The film’s artistic director, Temitope Adebiyi, told PREMIUM TIMES that some of the church’s challenges inspired the film.
“The church, which is supposed to be a house of love, has become a place where hate and jealousy are the new banners of the day.
“Going through recent events and stories about happenings, hypocrisy and problems in the churches, I realized that the main missing link is the lack of love in the church. So I feel like it’s necessary for me, as a filmmaker, to talk about this.”
‘ALTER HATE’.
Mr. Temitope, a New York Film Academy Certified Screenwriter and Filmmaker, said he initially intended it to be a short film. Still, along the way, he discovered that the important topic was too broad to be a short film.
Describing the film as a religion-focused film, the award-winning filmmaker said that it could best be described as a Christian film because it conveys a strong message to believers.
The filmmaker, who earned his first degree in Dramatic Arts from Obafemi Awolowo University, said it would help Christians remember many things that are not expected of them as Christians.
However, he stressed that the plot was not the typical story of a Nigerian evangelical film and that he would screen it in Nigeria.
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“My important targets are the churches. We have the premiere next month and we have some churches in the US that have shown interest in hosting the screening,” she said.
Stills from ‘HATE FROM THE ALTER’. Cast
Temitope, taking his time to explain his choice of cast, revealed that he cast them after critically analyzing their strengths and not through formal auditions.
“As a filmmaker, I always try to pay attention to my cast. What shaped my casting decision was contacting people I had worked with before; I know their acting strengths and what role they fit into because I didn’t audition at all,” he said.
However, he explained that he was working with part of the cast for the first time, adding that he deliberately featured an American actor in the film.
“I have a lot of American actors I’ve worked with that I could have brought on the project, but there’s something I’m looking for in my actors for this project that goes beyond their acting ability or nationality. So I had to work only with those who have it.”
challenges
Speaking of the challenges encountered in producing the film, he said that it accommodated the busy schedules of his cast and crew.
Stills from ‘HATE FROM THE ALTER’.
“One of the biggest challenges in filming the movie is getting filming time with the actors. The movie was shot in a country where people have busy schedules: work and family, and acting is not a full-time job for anyone,” he said.
Without disclosing the film’s budget, the filmmaker, trained at Russia’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, assured audiences that they would be surprised by the result.
The filmmaker, who currently resides in Washington DC, has produced films such as ‘From Heaven’, ‘Backchat’, ‘Pa Said to Me’, ‘The Dead Saved Me’, ‘Late Move’ and, most recently, ‘Hate from the altar’.
